


Finding Shelter

by islandgirl_246



Category: Shelter (2007)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Gabe is a good bro, M/M, Pre-Slash, Prequel, Shaun publishes his first novel, Zach is still an artist at heart, before there was a Shaun/Zach, complicated breakups
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 14:37:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6708919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/islandgirl_246/pseuds/islandgirl_246
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shaun is a soon-to-be-published author, trying to finish his first book, which seems to be causing a rift with his partner, Rick. Rick would rather him do something else, like become an English professor. Even as Shaun struggles with his book, he's struggling with something else, memories of a certain lad back home, whom he can't seem to get out of his head, especially as every time he turns around someone reminds him that Zach is out there. <br/>Will his relationship survive the struggle or will his seeming unrequited feelings for Zach jeopardise what he's working towards?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding Shelter

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, wrote this back in 2014 when I first started exploring fanfiction. It was my very first attempt and was posted on my livejournal back then. Still love this film like oodles and oodles and return to it from time to time. It is an awesome film with very good acting, but very under-rated. 
> 
> I just edited a very few areas ... but here we go...

Shaun was tired. He’d had another of those pointless fights with Rick about his writing. How could you love someone yet not understand them? Sometimes he felt that Rick just didn’t get him; didn’t understand that he had to write. It wasn’t a job, a choice, it wasn’t a hobby. It was his fucking life.

He had two months to complete the book and get it to his publisher to make his deadline and avoid any penalties stemming from the advance that he’d been given to produce it, publisher-ready, by the deadline. So what if it meant that he had to lock himself away in the study and not break for a damn party he didn’t want to attend anyway? Why did Rick not understand that going to a Saturday night dinner party that was contrived by his rich circle of friends for no other reason than that it was Saturday night and they were bored, could not take precedence over his writing? Not now.

His phone rang and he checked the caller ID before he flicked it open. It was Gabe, and even before he said hello, a smile was already forming on his lips. His brother, as annoying as he could be at times, sometimes had perfect timing.

“Hey bro, how’s my favourite fag?”

From anyone else the word would have been quashed from the beginning and never dear uttered again. From Gabe – what the hell, it was just like him to say whatever popped into his head.

Shaun exhaled audibly, “What’s up?” he asked, smile in his voice.

“I just hadn’t heard from you in a while, like two months and wanted to make sure you hadn’t been killed and dumped in a nearby ditch, you bitch. How the hell are ya?”

“Busy, Gabe. Trying to finish this book. I’ve got little over a month and a half to finish it.”

“Ok, but Mom’s been worried. She said you’ve missed a couple of her calls and hadn’t called back and Rick seemed annoyed when she reached out to him. You two ok?”

“Just growing pains I guess. The book’s taking a bit longer than I expected to finish and Rick’s getting a bit impatient with me. I haven’t exactly been around a lot, buried under the computer and all.”

He sighed. “Tell mom I’ll call her this weekend and not to worry, I’m not dead, just working. How are things with you, man?” he asked, just to catch up a bit and ease some of the guilt at ignoring his family for so long.

“Oh, you know. Catching pussy wherever I can. Trying to get Zach to come out and party with me this weekend. He’s working parttime now and I’ve barely been seeing him this past week. His mom’s birthday is coming up and you know how that gets.”

At the mention of Zach, Shaun felt a pull in his stomach that he tried to force down, but it stirred all kinds of memories he really didn’t need right now, especially with things so rocky between him and Rick. After his trip back home last Christmas, Rick had not spoken to him for two weeks when he found a short story on his laptop about Zach. It wasn’t exactly the PG13 type story. Hell, it wasn’t even R rated. From that moment he’d hardly mentioned Gabe, and never Zach, in Rick’s presence. His partner had accused him of having a hard-on for the kid and guilt had eaten away at Shaun because, as much as he hated to admit it, he knew it was true.

He’d last seen Zach at his and Gabe’s graduation earlier that year and was both disappointed and thankful that he hadn’t run into him the four days he was there over the Christmas holidays. He’d be going on 18 now and Shaun ached at the thought of what he would look like, bronzed by the sun, streaks in his hair from so much exposure while surfing or skate boarding and those eyes.

He tuned back in to what his brother was saying. “So when are you going to come out again? I haven’t seen you since December and that was like six months ago.”

“I can’t go anywhere til I get this thing done. I got til end of August to deliver and it probably will be another two or three months before it’s at the publishers. We’ll see. You could always come up for a visit before school starts back.”

“Don’t think I can swing that right now. The guys wanna take a trip up the coast for bigger waves. Been trying to convince Zach to come with, but he’s wigging out.”

“How is he, really?” Shaun heard himself ask softly.

“You know Zach, holds a lot in. The anniversary of his mom’s death is coming up but he won’t talk about it. If I know him, he’s definitely thinking about it, and with him taking so much responsibility for Cody, he’s a lot more closed now than he used to be. He’s become a surrogate dad to the kid. I worry about him sometimes, you know?”

“Yeah. Well all you can do Gabe is let him know you’re there if he wants to talk it out, or just to hang. He’s never been a big talker, but the waves have always been his go to place, so maybe a surf session will help.”

“Good idea, thanks bro. But you know, if it comes down to the wire, I’ll just have him call you. You always seem to be able to put him in a lighter mood.”

Shaun felt a pinch in the region of his chest and didn’t respond. The last thing he needed right now was to hear Zach’s voice. Hell, Christmas had been tough enough, as jumpy as he was each time the phone or door bell rang and the possibility of it being Zach loomed.

“Alright bro, I better get back to this manuscript. Talk to you soon.”

“Yeah sure. Later bitch.”

Dial tone answered Shaun’s chuckle as he shook his head. Without thinking he clicked into his photos folder on the desktop, and there it was – the pic he’d taken of Gabe and Zach, showing off identical skater burns from when they were 14. They had goofy grins on their faces, index and pinky fingers extended into the horns of a bull as they stood side by side, a hand each around the other’s neck.

He heard footfalls in the hallway and quickly clicked off the pic. It would only start another argument he didn’t need. He pulled up the manuscript again as Rick walked into the room, dressed to death for the party and a sullen look on his face.

“So you definitely aren’t coming.” It was said in a bullish statement, rather than as a question.

“Rick I told you, I can’t.”

“You know, whatever. I have to become a priority for you at some point you know Shaun. I can’t carry this relationship by myself.”

It was an unfair assessment. It wasn’t like he was out goofing off for fuck’s sake; he was working. This was his career, his life’s work here. Because Rick and his preppy friends thought Shaun would make a good English professor and were bugging him to accept the University of Southern California’s offer for the coming school year, didn’t mean that that’s where his dream was. And it didn’t make him a slacker who did not care about the relationship.

He forced himself out of his chair to put his arms around Rick’s neck. He was handsome enough, black hair expertly combed – every hair in place, pert nose, slim lips, with those smoldering blue-gray eyes. Truth be told – it was those eyes that first attracted Shaun – eyes that reminded so much of … Shit. He wasn’t going there. These were dangerous thoughts.

And because he needed to obliterate the imagery, he pulled that dark head down to his for an exploratory kiss. One that quickly got heated before Rick pulled away.

“Oh no you don’t. I’m gonna go and let you get back to your novel.” Shaun always hated the way he said it like it was some scrap of insignificant porn he was writing instead of pouring his heart out in hopes that enough people would like and understand this small part of his soul that he elected to share. It always made him question his gift. “The sooner you get done. The sooner we can return to our life.”

Rick gave Shaun a quick smacking kiss before rushing off. Shaun stood there for a while as old doubts resurfaced. What was a blue blood like Rick doing with him anyway?

It wasn’t like Shaun was trailer trash. His father and mother came from good families and his stepfather was richer than his mother and father had been combined, but Rick Pritchard came from really old money – a long line of it, and his friends never let Shaun forget it was a privilege to be with him. It was one of the reasons he also avoided these parties that always came down to gossip of throwing names around.

Even though his parents weren’t thrilled he was gay, Rick’s substantial trust funds – more than one – from both his mother’s mother and his father’s father, ensured that he could be kept very well even if they cut him off. They had no control over his trusts, a lawyer, who was the executor, did and the guidelines were not anything his parents could mess with.  
With another sigh, Shaun returned to the computer and his book.

\---

(January, the following year)

“I have to do the tour, Rick.”

“But that’s four months, Shaun. What am I supposed to do while you’re traipsing all over the globe? Sit home and twiddle my thumbs until you get back?”

“You could come with me. I’ve already asked you to,” Shaun said wearily.

“Why the hell would I follow you around like a puppy for the next four months while you bounce from studios to book signings? What would I do when you’re out ‘working’?” he said the word almost scathingly.

“You could come support me. It would help sell the book for people to see a happy same sex couple.”

“I thought it was a mystery,” Rick folded his arms. It still burned that he hadn’t read Shaun’s book; that he’d looked at it in askance when Shaun had presented him a copy at Christmas.

“It is. Or you could sight see. Some of the places I’m going are nice and it’s not going to be four straight months. I will be home periodically.” But Rick was implacable.

“Look, why don’t you come with me to Philly and if you absolutely hate it, then you can fly back home. I’ll be home in two weeks after the Philly stop before I have to go again.”

“When are we going to have time for us, Shaun?”

\---

(Two years later)

Shaun knew he was struggling. His first book had enjoyed reasonable success for an unknown author, and his publisher had been on his case ever since to come with a follow up. His fans had also been tweeting him about the next book ever since his publisher had mentioned him on one of those breakfast shows and that he was working on a second book. So the pressure was on.

While things with Rick had gotten better over the past two years and they had patched up a lot of what had broken down with the first book, Shaun was feeling that tightness in his belly again each time Rick came into the study. He was stuck and his moods had not been the best lately and he knew Rick was reaching breaking point with him.

Last year to keep the peace, he had given in to the nagging and had taken up the university’s extended offer to teach a writing class the first semester. He had to admit it had not been a bad gig that first semester. People still knew his name and it was a little thrilling to have university kids asking his view and tips on getting published, and helping them to flesh out ideas.

Rick had walked around proud with him on his arm as he told his parents, and then his friends about his lover, the professor – although “professor” wasn’t quite accurate.

So when they asked him to continue the class the second semester, due to demand, the pleading in Rick’s eyes had forced him to say yes, even though he would rather have been working on his book. That term, the novelty of teaching started to wear off and it began to feel like work. The university had asked him to give a bit more structure to the course, which meant lesson plans and projects, rather than the free range he’d had in the first semester. By the time he got home in the evenings, with or without papers to grade, he was too exhausted physically and mentally to get to his manuscript, and there was also the issue of tending to his partner’s needs.

Rick had not become any more understanding of the demands on his time than he’d been when Shaun was writing. Oh the joys and freedoms of the idly rich who believe the earth spins to supply them with what they want.

Saying yes to a third semester had been sheer madness and Shaun regretted every moment of it, but it was earning him some cash and making him feel like less of a leach on Rick’s generosity, despite the royalties that were still coming in, if slower now.

He’d missed two writers conventions his publisher had begged him to attend to keep his book circulating, but one was during his exam period and the other was during the Easter break when Rick had already planned a trip for them with his parents. How could he possibly say no and keep the peace? So he let his writing slide, again.

By the end of the term, he was done pretending that things were good or easy between him and Rick, and he was done making sacrifices at the expense of his writing. He wanted a second book and hell, if he didn’t take what he wanted, how the fuck would he get it?

So the arguments picked up once again, without ceasing. This time there were no compromises, and Rick began staying out later and later, and eventually not coming home some nights.

Shaun’s mom began calling more often, telling him to come home, she was worried about how strained and stressed he was sounding.

“The beach will do you good, honey,” she said on her last call.

But the last thing Shaun needed was to butt heads with Larry. He loved his mother, was glad she’d found Larry after dad died, but he and the man could not see eye to eye for very long under the same roof. The only thing they absolutely agreed on was Gabe. They both loved him unconditionally.

Gabe had come along in the second year of Vivianne’s marriage to Larry. By then Shaun was already nine years old, heading fast for ten and his new baby brother had looked at him like he hung the moon.

When Gabe became friends with the scrawny kid from the other side of town, Shaun took them both under his wing – he’d been the master and they the students – and soon Zach was like an extension of their family.

They had been there, right alongside Zach when his mom got sick; and then when she passed away just before his final year. He’d spent a lot of time at their house then, with Shaun and Gabe’s mom practically acting as a surrogate parent to the lost looking boy.

It was then that Shaun had seen the other side of Zach – the softer more vulnerable side and things between them had changed. His butterfly no longer seemed all gangly limbs, but had started to grow up and mature then, and it was hard for Shaun not to notice, especially when he kept coming over when Gabe was out.

A fast, closer friendship struck up between the two over surfboards and long evenings on the beach; and when Gabe was around Zach could talk about his mom without feeling so awkward, share the good memories and the bad with both of them. Shaun just soaked it all in, watching the young man and listening with the ears of a writer, visualizing and being sucked deeper by the imagery created, by the young man he was starting to know a bit too well.

When a long surf sess with the three one evening ended up with Gabe deserting them for a lovely pair of legs in a scanty bikini, what would ordinarily have been an easy time between two friends suddenly seemed fraught with tension.

Shaun had tried to ease it with talk of plans for after graduation and CalArts, which Zach had earlier confessed he had applied to for the coming school term.

“I think you’re overthinking this thing. Your work is mad good. They’d be crazy not to take you.”

Zach had blushed, uncharacteristically and had avoided looking at him. “There’s bound to be hundreds of applications with people with more skill than I have and who have the training I don’t. What I do is mostly street stuff and I hardly think they’re gonna be so impressed with what I can do with paint cans.”

“I don’t understand you sometimes. Why do you do that?” Shaun had asked him softly, forcing Zach to finally meet his gaze. “Why do you sell yourself short? Do you not know how good you are? How much better you could be? You’ve got that thing Zach – that so many other artists strive for. You’ve got a damn good eye for what moves and speaks to people, abstract or not. It’s good and you gotta stop putting yourself down man. You’re beautiful.”

It was out before he could stop it and the tension went up a couple dozen notches when neither of them broke eye contact. When it seemed like the air was too thick to breathe, Zach sudden scrambled to his feet in the deepening twilight.

“I gotta go. Promised Cody I would read him a bedtime story. Ummm, could you tell Gabe I left?” he asked in a rush, grabbing towel and board without glancing at Shaun.

Suddenly Zach's stomach felt funny and he didn’t want to examine why. He just needed to get home, plus he had a date with Tori and she’d be pissed if he cancelled again, especially if she found out he’d cancelled to go surfing with Shaun and Gabe. He didn’t say any of this to Shaun though and he didn’t pause to wonder why, even though they’d become pretty tight in the last year or so.

“Zach…,” Shaun began.

“I gotta go man. See ya.”

Sitting at the computer now Shaun still recalled the moment he’d known what he was feeling for Zach was completely inappropriate, and what was worse, that Zach knew it too. He’d hidden it well the last year, or so he thought. Now what?

Even now he scrubbed hands across his face and into his hair, pulling less than gently as if to wake himself and shock his senses into cooperating. Enough about Zach. What the hell was he going to do about Rick and their failing relationship?

He had absolutely no plans of trying to change the man. They’d been together for four years now, and Rick was still the same as when they’d met. Maybe he was more demanding and a bigger pain in the ass, pun not intended, but four years was a long time to be with a single partner. Admittedly quite a few of them had been rough going, but they had stuck it out, mostly due to Shaun sacrificing things that were important to him to keep the peace.

But he suddenly was not willing to make those sacrifices anymore. It was too much and he no longer had the patience for it. He wanted love, unconditionally. He wanted to feel again, something other than frustration, and abject loneliness, he admitted now if he was completely honest with himself. When had this relationship become so lonely? Had it always been like this and how had he not noticed?

Movement at the corner of his eye alerted him that someone else was in the room. He turned and realised that Rick was watching him – a serious look in those stormy eyes. In fact, it looked like he’d been there a while, leaned up against the doorway just watching.

They stared at each other for a while, neither one saying a word. Then Rick exhaled and looked down at his feet, shuffling a bit as if it was now hard to stay put. “So this is it, huh?”

“I can’t do it anymore Rick. I want to write. I need to write and I can’t continue feeling guilty about the things I want. I love you, but I can’t do this anymore. You’re not happy. You haven’t been in a while and there’s something missing between us and we’re not getting it back.” Shaun leaned forward in the chair, resting his arms loosely on his knees.

Rick visibly swallowed and the eyes now boring into his own looked haunted, sad.

Shaun wished for a moment that Rick had gotten angry instead. Anger he could have handled, but this broken look almost did him in, dealt him a blow to the stomach that he wasn’t expecting and wasn’t prepared for.

“What do you want to do?”

“I think it might be best that I move out. I’ll spend the next week or so looking for a new place and be out by the end of the month, hopefully. I’ll contribute to this month’s rent as I always do but you can decide if you want to stay after that.”

It all sounded so cold, so final. Shaun glanced up at him and their eyes met again, held. “I’m sorry Rick. I really thought I could make this work. I just think at the end of the day that we want different things, and staying in this holding pattern as we’ve been doing will only make things harder, on both of us.”

“I did love you, you know.” Rick said it quietly, almost as an afterthought, like he had to say it aloud to test the truth of it.

“I know,” Shaun responded.

And he did. When they’d started it was hot, new, exciting. He didn’t fool himself that there wasn’t love, because there had been, which made this break so much harder. It would have been easier if Rick was someone detestable; someone that it was easy to hate; some kind of bastard that had made his life a living hell, or better yet had cheated on him, instead of this emptiness characterised by a vague feeling that he had no idea where they went wrong. Was it his fault? Did he not love enough? Had he given enough of himself? Should he retract his statements and give this another go?

Suddenly there was a clench of panic and he didn’t know if he was doing the right thing anymore. What was the right thing? What if this was as good as it would get for him? It wasn’t as if being gay was easy. If one did not want to do the open relationship kind of lifestyle then settling down with the right person could be like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack – God he hated clichés, but it was apt. What if he was now destined to spend the rest of his life alone? Gay and alone, the thought was enough to make him reconsider the break.

“I’m gonna spend the weekend at Trish and Nancy’s.” Rick paused. “We were good, weren’t we?” The pleading in his voice wasn’t something Shaun had ever heard before and a fresh wave of guilt assaulted him. This was his doing.

“Yeah, we were great.”

Rick nodded, gave him an uncertain smile and backed out of the room. It was like an unseen vortex had sucked the air out and Shaun felt empty. He felt just a little lost too.

He picked up his phone and dialed Hank. Hank was the one good thing that had come out of his teaching stint. A fellow tutor in the English department, Hank and his wife Julie had become fast friends of Shaun’s. He didn’t have that many straight friends and better yet, even fewer that were without guile or bullshit. Hank called things as he saw them, and Julie was an unparalleled partner to him. Actually, the kind of love the couple shared, Shaun realised, was what he was looking for in his own relationship and hadn’t found. It was an accepting, giving and comfortable sort of love. Being with the couple was like being back home in Long Beach – the ease of the relationship, how honest he could be with them. He hadn’t had that kind of relationship with anyone save Gabe and Zach.

Hank answered on the third ring. “Hey man.”

“Hey. Ummm, you’d mention that that condo near your house was becoming available. You know if it’s taken?”

Hank lived in Valencia Glen, which was a little further than Valencia Meadows where Shaun and Rick lived, but it was a nice district and with a reduced budget, should still be affordable to Shaun.

“I don’t know, but I could ask Cal. Everything ok?”

“Nah, Rick and I just broke up and I offered to move out.” Shaun responded.

“Oh man, I’m sorry. Hang on.” Shaun heard Hank muffle the telephone as he spoke to someone in the background. He guessed Hank was filling in Julie on this latest development. “Hey Shaun. Julie’s gonna give Cal a call right now, but I don’t think that place is gonna be ready before next month. You could crash at us until then, if you need to.”

“Thanks man, I appreciate it, but I think I’m gonna go home to Long Beach for a while, work some kinks out, clear my head and such. This is gonna be harder than I thought.”

“I’ll bet. You guys were together four years. That’s longer than some marriages these days. We’re here if you need to talk, you know that. Hang on again.”

Julie came on the line. “Hey love. You sure you don’t want to come over, even if just for a shoulder to cry on?”

Shaun smiled with effort. “I’ll be ok, Julie. Thanks.”

“Ok, but you gotta promise to let us know when you’re leaving and call us from Long Beach once in a while. Let us know you’re alive. Listen, I just spoke to Cal and he says the current tenants’ lease will be up at month-end and there are a few things he needs to get done, so the condo won’t be livable til about mid next month.

“He says if you’re interested to give him a call tomorrow. He can arrange for you to see the place and work out the rent and what’s not. You want his number?”

“Yeah, gimme a sec.” Shaun wrote down the number and bade Hank and Julie goodbye after promising to come to dinner on Saturday.

Shaun glanced around. The room he was in held mostly his stuff and as he thought of packing up, he started to feel even more depressed.

\-----

(Next day)

It was the ringing phone that woke him. He reached out and plucked the offending object from the bedside table.

“Hello?”

“Hi honey,” his mother’s voice came clearly down the line. “Sounds like you’re still in bed. I hope I’m not disturbing things,” she said with a hint of mischief in her voice.

“I’m alone mom. What’s up?”

“Alone? On a Saturday morning? I thought you kids slept in on Saturday mornings.”

“We didn’t today.” He wasn’t ready to discuss his break-up with his mother just yet. In fact, he wanted to go back to sleep and forget all about it and the fact that Rick did not come home last night and probably would not return until he was out of the apartment.

At his short answer his mother’s voice became a bit hesitant and Shaun regretted his brevity.

“Well I was just checking in honey and to let you know that Larry and I are heading off on a cruise for the next two weeks and then vacationing in Florence for a month. He’s got some business there, so we’re staying for a while.

“If you need it, the house will be empty for a while. Maybe you and Rick could come down and make use of it, if you want to.”

“Thanks mom, and be safe. Have a good trip.”

His mom’s voice held a note of resignation. She new she wasn’t going to get anything more out of Shaun until he was ready. “Ok honey. I love you.”

“Love you too mom.”

Shaun had just dozed off again when the offensive item rang again. What was it with people disturbing him on a Saturday morning? It was just gone 9 a.m.

“Hello,” he said with more force than he intended.

“Hey bro, you ok?”

“I would be if my family would let me sleep.”

“I just spoke to mom and she said you sounded funny. She said Rick wasn’t there?”

“Mom worries too much.”

When there was silence on the line, Gabe let it stretch out. Unlike their mother, Gabe didn’t give up without answers.

“Rick’s spending the weekend at friends.”

“Things ok between you two? Saturday’s usually your day.”

Seeing he couldn’t get out of it, Shaun responded in a rush, “We’re splitting up, ok? And no I don’t want to discuss it, I don’t want to cry on your shoulder, I just want to go back to sleep.”

Silence again.

“Look, I’m here if you need to talk. I know I can be an ass sometimes, but I always got your back, big bro.”

“I know. Thanks.”

“A’right. I’ll let you get some rest. Call if you need anything.”

They hung up and instead of sleep, Shaun found he was wide away with too many thoughts running through his head. So he got up and started to pack.

\---

(Wednesday – the following week)

Shaun woke up with the sun streaming through his windows. He could hear the waves crashing on the coast. He’d got in late last night and had dropped his bags in the hallway before crashing. He’d spoken to Gabe and told him he’d be coming down mid-week.

Gabe had left for Santa Barbara on Monday, back to his private school funded by Larry. So now the house was empty, just the way he needed it. He’d secured the condo before he’d left Valencia, paid down his deposits even as the owner was making repairs, packed up his shit and had it in storage at Hank and Julie’s – thank God for the couple. So now all he had to do was work the rawness out of his soul and relax for the next couple of weeks, while he picked his way through the second book.

He shoved back the covers and got out of bed when his stomach told him he needed sustenance. He hadn’t eaten last night when he’d got in, so he headed to the kitchen now to explore.

Opening the fridge and cupboards, he told himself a run to the supermarket was definitely on the cards for some time today. He pulled out a carton of milk and gave it a sniff – still fresh; grabbed some cereal left behind either by his mom and Larry or Gabe and emptied the contents into a bowl, with a splash of milk.

Taking the bowl and his bag from the hallway, he went back upstairs to put his stuff away.

It was then that he heard the scratching sound coming from the back porch. _What the hell?_

He walked up to his windows and peered over at the back of the house and his heart skidded – a quick tattoo in his chest before it sped up and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears.

Zach. Zach was here. It took him a moment for the thought to register and his hands to stop shaking. Taking the bowl for comfort and familiarity, he headed out back – to Zach.

**Author's Note:**

> [And this is where the encounter between Shaun and Zach begins in the movie]  
> Feel free to comment.


End file.
